AllFreeNovel
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He looks away for a second, his cheeks turning pink. I smile wider. “Sober as a judge. I saw a group of friends heading out of school, so I joined them. Didn’t want the teacher stopping me out in the hall and asking where I was going.”
I shake my head, laughing. “Or when you ran around the dinner hall butt naked with only a football covering your… your, um… your junk?” I ask, feeling my cheeks heat.
He chokes on his laughter. “Unfortunately, no. I wish I had been. It was Miss Drum that caught me. I lost a bet with the lads.”
I giggle, wishing I could have seen Miss Drum’s reaction. She was such a hard-arse teacher. If you sneezed, she gave you detention. She was so strict, everybody hated taking history with her.
“What did she do?”
He ducks his head when he answers. “Dragged me by my ear to the principal’s office. She pulled so hard I dropped the ball.”
I burst out laughing, seriously wishing I could have seen that. I bet she lost her shit.
“All done,” Levi says, shocking me.
“Already?” I ask, turning to face him.
“He did good distracting you.” Levi winks, putting his stuff away.
I look down at my wrist, feeling my eyes water. In a beautiful script, Lara’s name is written in the middle of the semicolon.
A tear falls as I look up at Levi, feeling my throat tighten. “I love it. Thank you so much.”
He looks away, his own eyes going misty. “Anything for you.”
I nod, looking down at my wrist before turning to bring it closer to Banner, showing him. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Yeah,” he says, sounding choked up. I look up, my heart stopping when I find him staring at me and not my tattoo.
“I’ve got some cream at home for you to put on, so all you have to do when you get back is lightly run a wet cloth over it. I’ll put the cream on tonight before you go to bed.”
“Thank you again, Levi. I couldn’t have pictured anything better. It’s perfect.”
Banner gets up, leaning over and kissing my forehead. “I’m proud of you. You did it.”
I look up, giving him a watery smile. “You thought I’d chicken out?”
He chuckles quietly. “No. Like I’ve told you a million times: you’re the strongest and bravest person I know. I just meant you got your first tattoo.”
“Just wait until the next time something inspires me,” I tell him as I get up, looking over my shoulder to wink at him.
“Come on. I’ll drop you off at home and then get to this meeting.”
“I can’t wait to show Lake. She hates needles too.”
“Maybe she’ll get one next,” Banner notes, handing me my bag.
We turn to Levi, who is just cleaning down his workspace. “What do I owe you?”
Levi looks up, smiling. “Nothing. You’ll never have to pay for a tattoo with me.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, biting my bottom lip.
“Yep, now get going before you make lover-boy late.”
Banner scoffs—used to Levi and Mark’s nickname for him. “See ya later, mate.”
I wave goodbye, heading out of the shop, tucked under Banner’s arm. I can’t stop staring at my wrist, proud of myself for going through with it. It’s something I’m going to treasure forever, never regretting having it because the tattoo means more to me than people will know.
